Yes. If you are complying with the joint marketing agreement exception under the federal privacy regulations, you will be in compliance with Illinois law. As you noted, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) released an interpretive letter in 2001, Interpretive Letter 01-01, which details how federal and Illinois financial privacy laws interact, and, to our knowledge, that letter has not been revised or rescinded.

As stated in the IDFPR letter, both Illinois law (Section 48.1 of the Illinois Banking Act) and federal law (implemented by Regulation P) provide exceptions to each law’s privacy requirements. Regulation P includes an exception for joint marketing agreements, provided that you meet the notice and contractual requirements in Section 13 of Subpart C. See 12 CFR 1016.13. While Illinois law does not include a similar exception, the IDFPR letter explains that the federal exceptions apply equally under Illinois law: “a state bank need not obtain a customer’s authorization to make disclosures permitted by one of the exceptions contained in Subpart C of the federal regulation” and “Section 13 [of Subpart C] provides an exception to the opt out requirements for the disclosure of information to a nonaffiliated third party for marketing on behalf of the bank services, or for services offered pursuant to a joint marketing agreement.” As a result, we believe that neither Regulation P’s opt-out requirement nor the Illinois Banking Act’s opt-in requirement would apply to information sharing under a joint marketing agreement, provided that the agreement complies with Regulation P’s requirements for disclosing information under a joint marketing agreement.